Chiropracty, the manipulation of the muscles and skeletal structure of the human body, has been used to treat the various maladies of the human body for some time. Various apparatus have been developed to facilitate this type of treatment, including the use of an articulated treatment table. Such tables typically include an elongated, padded platform or table on which a patient can recline. The table is further provided for a means for securing the patient's extremities, e.g., the patient's ankles and/or wrists and includes an articulated lower or anterior body section which underlies the patient adjacent the lower back. The table provides a means for raising and lowering (extension and flexion, respectively), laterally bending, rotating, and extending the anterior body section with respect to the upper body or support section. Such tables have proven to be valuable aids to the practitioner of chiropractic medicine and for patients suffering from spinal and related nerve, muscle, and skeletal disorders.
Chiropractic tables designed for conducting certain prescribed adjustments and treatments have one or more movable mechanisms which allow a section to be displaced a predetermined distance to facilitate the adjustment. Since the tables, including the separate head piece or other section, are generally provided with cushions, the cushions tend to absorb some of the forces manually applied by the health professional. One or more sections of the chiropractic table may be provided with an actuating means that will abruptly and rapidly move the cushion a controlled distance. This is often accomplished by use of a cylinder, the operating rod of which is affixed to the base of the cushion. When the cylinder is actuated by the chiropractor through suitable actuating means, the cushion will suddenly and rapidly move within a predetermined distance. When this force is applied simultaneously with the health professional manually applying a resistive force at the appropriate place on the patient, the health professional can conduct the proper spinal or body adjustment, and consistently and uniformly apply the same adjustment to that patient in future treatments as well as to other patients needing similar treatments.
One of the various treatments for patients suffering from spinal and related nerve, muscular, and skeletal maladies requires flexion of the patient's spine coupled with simultaneous manual manipulation of the spine. In performing this procedure, the magnitude, speed, and time duration of the flexion cycles is important, and variations from prescribed parameters can significantly reduce the effectiveness of the treatment. In prior devices, the magnitude, speed, and time of the flexion have been manually controlled by a practitioner utilizing his own skill and judgment. Simultaneously, a practitioner must carefully manipulate the spine to effect the desired treatment and result. This, in turn requires either the practitioner utilize one hand to produce the flexion of the table or carefully coordinate manipulation of the table by the practitioner's foot while manipulating the spinal disc by hand. Such procedures are difficult and may reduce the practitioner's effectiveness when perforating this procedure.
Chiropractic tables have been developed with an automatic mechanism which performs the cyclical flexion of the patient's spine within predetermine parameters, thereby allowing the practitioner to devote his full attention to the manual manipulation of the patient's spine. Examples of such motorized tables are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,938,006; 4,489,714; and 4,569,339.
A major disadvantage with prior motorized chiropractic manipulation tables is that the drive mechanism causes considerable vibration or the table and is often very noisy, causing the patient some consternation and/or annoyance during treatment. Another disadvantage is that the drive mechanism produces forces which cause fatigue failures in some components, resulting in servicing and replacement of those components.